Timeline of Balloons and Ballooning

Here is a time line of development of balloons, from toys to first human flight a safe method of flight.

Around 200 AD
: Chinese invented the sky lanterns (so called Kongming lanterns) which are considered the first hot air balloons. They were used for signalization in
military and during the festivities.

1709, August 8
: Brazilian-Portuguese priest Bartolomeu de Gusmão made a presentation of a hot air balloon in Lisbon, in front of King John V and the Portuguese
court. It was a small paper balloon made of paper that flew some 4 meters in the air.

1783, June 5
: The Montgolfier Brothers demonstrate an unmanned hot air balloon in public, at Annonay.

1783, September 19
: the Montgolfier Brothers launch their next hot air balloon but this time with passengers: sheep, duck, and rooster. The balloon flies 500m in the air
and returns safely to the ground.

1783, October 19:
Montgolfier Brothers made first tethered balloon flight with human passengers. In the basket were scientist Jean-François Pilâtre de Rozier, the
manufacture manager, Jean-Baptiste Réveillon and Giroud de Villette.

1783, November 21
: the first free hot air balloon flies in the air with human passengers. Pilots were de Rozier and the Marquis François d'Arlandes and flight lasted 25
minutes.

1783, December 1
: the first free gas balloon flies in the air with human passengers. Jacques Charles and Nicolas-Louis Robert were the pilots of this flight and they
flew for 2 hours and 5 minutes.

1784, March 2
: Jean-Pierre Blanchard makes his first flight in a hydrogen balloon.

1784
: Blanchard uses a hand-powered propeller in a balloon, making this the first recorded use of propulsion on a flying machine.

1785, January 7
: Blanchard and s John Jeffries make the first flight across the English Channel in a hydrogen balloon.

1785, June 15
: the first aeronautical deaths happen. Pilâtre de Rozier and Pierre Jules Romain die when their balloon crashes when they attempt to cross the English
Channel.

1793
: Balloon was used for military purposes during the siege of Mainz, Germany.

1793, 9 January
: Jean-Pierre Blanchard makes the first balloon ascent in the Western Hemisphere.

1793
: French start making preparations for introduction of balloons in their military.

1794, April 2
: French establish Company of Aeronauts: the first airship company in the French Army and the world's first air force.

1794, June 26
: The first balloon in the history was used during the battle and helped the victory (balloon l'Entreprenant during the Battle of Fleurus).

1802, 5 July
: André-Jacques Garnerin and Edward Hawke Locker make a 27.4km flight in 15 minutes in a balloon.

1803, 18 July
: Etienne Gaspar Robertson and his copilot Lhoest launch balloon and ascend to the height of 7,300m.

1809
: Jacob Degen makes a hydrogen-filled balloon ornitopter.

1819, 6 July
: Sophie Blanchard becomes the first woman to die in a aviation accident when fireworks, that she was launching from here balloon, ignite the gas in
the balloon.